The gripping of a fish's head by means of jaws through pivotal action of a pair of handles to which the jaws are mounted is old, as taught by the disclosure in U.S. Pat. No. 2,603,829, granted Jul. 22, 1952 to Siskoff. The disclosure in the U.S. Pat. No. 2,932,849, granted Apr. 19, 1960 to Missman teaches that it is old to mount a sharpened point on a rod so that the rod can be forced throughout the body of a fish to support it in an upright position on a board while it is being skinned. The disclosure in U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,109 granted Nov. 29, 1988 to Bennett et al introduces the concept of teeth mounted on flat, solid, rectangularly shaped bills to grip the head of a fish while skinning it. None of these teachings, singly or in combination, teach or suggest the concept of a bifurcated member having prongs thereon and which cooperate with a single prong on another member located between the prongs on the bifurcated member, the members and prongs functioning by pivotal actuation of a pair of handles. Nor is there a teaching or suggestion of a pair of bosses on handles that engage one another in the closure mode for the tool and which prevent the prongs from further thrust into the fish's head, the prongs in such closed mode having grasped the fish sufficiently for its skinning thereafter. Further, a portion of the pivotal assembly in the tool fits neatly in a pocket provided in the tool and by which the bosses on the handles are in alignment with one another for cooperative action in the operation of the subject matter of the invention; this also not taught or suggested in the noted teachings.
Other state-of-the-art disclosures may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,720,001, granted Oct. 11, 1995 to Hobson; U.S. Pat. No. 4,306,336 granted Dec. 22, 1981 to Kovar; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,998 granted Dec. 8, 1987 to Gast.